Figuring Out the Stuff Between the Beginning and the End

Rewatching Buffy – After High School

Last Tuesday, in this blog’s Rewatching Buffy series, we reached the end of season 3. In it, Buffy and the gang graduated from high school and took down the giant snake monster formerly known as the mayor of Sunnydale.

But life doesn’t end after high school.

It’s at this point, that Buffy the Vampire Slayer enters the realm of college and adulthood. It’s crazy to think that, when I look back at Buffy in my mind, I picture episodes that took place in high school. But the majority of the series’ run takes place after graduation. So that means there’s still a lot to look forward to.

However, I’d be lying if I said that any future seasons of Buffy ever managed to capture the same magic that was so apparent in those first few years. Really, for me, seasons 2 and 3 were the years when things really took off for the show. Sure, there were weak spots here and there. But the overall arcs in the stories were spot on. Angel turning evil? Uh, awesome. Faith turning evil? Also awesome. Blowing up the mayor after he turned into a giant snake monster? Okay, that was a little anti-climactic for me, but it got the job done.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of strengths and weaknesses in the upcoming seasons, too. But I’m excited to continue watching the show in order to explore them.

Also, this is the point in time when Angel leaves Sunnydale for Los Angeles and gets his own spin-off. We’ll discover that Cordelia and, later, Wesley follow along to make it a show that rivals Buffy in quality.

So here’s what I’m gonna do… I’ll be watching two episodes every week. One Buffy. One Angel. I’m still planning to post them both on Tuesdays, since that’s the night of the week they both aired. My reason for taking on Angel as well as Buffy is because, occasionally, the shows would cross over.

Those of you who have enjoyed reading these Buffy recaps will have more to look forward to. Those of you who have not, well, you can skip over them in your blog feeds. I apologize for not scratching everyone’s particular itch with each and every post I do. But I love this show and I’m having a great time writing about it. I hope you enjoy reading about it, but if not, I’m not gonna force you to.

But, please, come back on other days when I post something a little more to your liking.